Pep Guardiola responded with a sarcastic dig to Mauricio Pochettino's claims that Chelsea could have beaten Manchester City.
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City equalised late to earn a drawPochettino "proud" of Chelsea's displayGuardiola seemed to believe otherwise(C)Getty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?
City and Chelsea battled to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium, with Raheem Sterling and Rodri scoring for their respective teams in a tense Premier League encounter. After the match, Pochettino expressed his satisfaction with Chelsea's performance and commended his team's spirit and resilience against the reigning champions. He even suggested that City are the best team in the world before once again lavishing praise on his defenders who kept Erling Haaland & Co. in check.
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"I’m so pleased. I told the players I feel so proud," said Pochettino. "In the last three games we’ve started to create a very good spirit. That’s the way we want to build our team. Today was a very good opportunity to show we’re going where we want… In the second half they force you to go deep, but we created chances to score the second goal and things could have been different. It’s important that the players realise that football is really competitive and to reach the level we want, we need to suffer."
He added: "But I think we sustained the effort and we created chances that we should score and win the game. I am so happy."
HOW DID GUARDIOLA RESPOND
However, when Pochettino's comments were brought to Guardiola's attention, the City manager responded with a touch of sarcasm.
"Good, congratulations," Guardiola told . "If he believes that, that is good for his team."
Despite the dig, Guardiola acknowledged Chelsea's challenge but also praised his team's second-half performance.
"We knew it [Chelsea would be a challenge]," Guardiola added. "That was a good game. We played incredible in the second half. The first half was not our levels but to compete against them teams you have to play 90 minutes not just one half."
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT?
After sharing the spoils with Chelsea, City cannot overtake Liverpool even with their game in hand against Brentford on Tuesday. The Reds emerged 4-1 triumphant against the Bees before City took the pitch and will head into Matchday 26 as the leaders of England.